Williams applies her trademark cartoony style to 11 tales from the Old Testament, rendered in two- or four-page spreads. The illustrations are characteristically busy, tiny panels sharing space with larger tableaux, all surrounded by a Greek chorus of angels (with a lumpy-headed serpent who twines itself around the frame and provides the antiphon). The effect can be hilarious: 40 itty-bitty panels depict Noah’s Ark bobbing on the waves (and receiving an occasional assist from God), while dialogue from within reveals its passengers’ increasing distaste for their hay rations (“Yuck!”). God Himself is depicted as a bald, jolly-looking olive-skinned gentleman with a beard, and while the other characters’ dialogue is colloquial and even at times irreverent, His dialogue is quoted from the New International Version of the Bible. No collection of stories can convey the grand narrative sweep of the Old Testament, and this is no exception. As an unusual and very funny interpretation of some of the key stories in the Western tradition, this offering works beautifully; as an entree to the Bible itself, it is less successful. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-7636-2211-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2004
A celebration of progressive Judaism and an inclusive primer on Jews making a difference in the world.
This wide-ranging collection of short biographies highlights 36 Jewish figures from around the globe and across centuries.
Explicitly pushing back against homogenous depictions of Jewish people, the authors demonstrate the ethnic, racial, and gender diversity of Jews. Each spread includes a brief biography paired with a stylized portrait reminiscent of those in Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo’s Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls (2016). A pull quote or sidebar accompanies each subject; sidebars include “Highlighting Jewish Paralympic Athletes,” “Jewish Stringed Music,” and “Ethiopian Jews in Israel.” Kleinrock and Pritchard’s roster of subjects makes a compelling case for the vastness and variety of Jewish experience—from a contemporary Ethiopian American teen to a 16th-century Portuguese philanthropist—while still allowing them to acknowledge better-known figures. The entry on Raquel Montoya-Lewis, an associate justice of the Washington Supreme Court and an enrolled member of the Pueblo Isleta Indian tribe, discusses her mission to reimagine criminal justice for Indigenous people; the sidebar name-checks Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan. The bios are organized around themes of Jewish principles such as Pikuach Nefesh (translated from the Hebrew as “to save a life”) and Adam Yachid (translated as the “unique value of every person”); each section includes an introduction to an organization that centers diverse Jewish experiences.
A celebration of progressive Judaism and an inclusive primer on Jews making a difference in the world. (resources) (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9780063285712
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The artistic starting point for the luminous illustrations in Spirin’s latest exploration of biblical texts is a large tempera painting incorporating scenes from the key events in the life of Christ. This painting, reproduced on a single page at the front of the oversized volume, uses an architectural arrangement with each scene serving as a room or floor of a castle-like structure. The ensuing full-page illustrations are excerpted from the larger painting, as are smaller vignettes of key characters framed within arches on the cover and endpapers. Each illustration is presented with a different format of surrounding pillars, archways or stonework relating to the architectural theme. The elegant paintings are filled with exquisite details in costumes and settings, accented with his signature use of golden highlights that convey a Renaissance flavor. While both the overall design and the illustrations are artistically stunning, the use of the King James Version of the biblical texts and the formal composition of the illustrations are not child-friendly, making this of most interest to adult collectors. (Religion/picture book. 7-10)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7614-5630-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2010
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